Tuesday, July 31, 2007

little froggies

Fun!


Here's what I've been making lately. Little frogs, lots of little frogs. I made a larger frog and filled it with rice. DH wants two bigger frogs to use as pillows on the sofa, that would be pretty cool. I don't know what we're going to do with all these froggies, but they sure are fun to make.

The story about the frogs goes way back... I was a little kid, probably four years old, I guess. We went to a craft fair, and a woman there had a barrel full of stuffed frogs. I just had to have one. This one time, begging acutally worked, and I chose a red and blue frog because it reminded me of Superman! Not long after, while riding in the car on the highway, I lost SuperFrog. He had been flying out the car window, like Superman, and for some reason, I thought if I let go he would continue to fly beside the car. He didn't. (Do any of you even remember when backseat car windows would actually roll all the way down?)

Many many years later, I saw some similar frogs out of leather that my friend Claudia had made. It turns out that she also grew up in Virginia, and had also gotten one of those stuffed frogs from a barrel at a craft show as a kid! Been wanting to make some for myself (uh, for my kids?) and just now finally getting around to doing it! :D

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Live Free or Die Hard

so we went to the movies last night, just me and DH. Yup, a for-real date, on a Saturday night, no less! We talked about Sicko, but went to see the new Die Hard movie instead since I got to pick the last movie we saw, the 2nd Pirates movie (decided to wait and get the third one from Netflix when it comes out on dvd). It was pretty good, actually. Besides the whole government saving everyone from the bad guys story line, which rubs me the wrong way, it wasn't bad. I found it pretty cool how the movie pointed out the fact that our entire money system is nothing but numbers in computers, and as such, is vulnerable to attack. The violence wasn't too upsetting for me, since it was pretty fake. I have this thing for shaved heads, so Bruce Willis' shiny head look was a nice bonus. :)

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Friday, July 27, 2007

the control game

The rules are simple, either control people or be controlled. Neitzsche, in Good vs. Evil, probably explained the Game in the most understandable terms (at least his explanation is the easiest for me to understand, even if I completely disagree with most of it), there is the herd and there are the Ubermensch who control the herd. Parents start teaching their children to play this Game from birth, and if they don't do a good job of it, the schools are there to further indoctrinate the people into the Game (but that's a whole 'nother post for a different day). What everyone seems to ignore is that to play the game at all, whether you obey or command others to obey, you must abdicate all responsibility for your own actions, blame or be blamed.

There is no more respect for autonomy, yours or anyone else's, when the rules state so very clearly that noone is to be allowed to make their own decisions, to define for themselves what is right or wrong. And the self is destroyed in the process. I know some of these selfless people. I find it hard to believe they have no depth of character, that the appearance, what other people think of them, really is all that matters. The more I try to scratch beneath the surface, the more meaningless fluff I find. It seems to me that in the process of giving others the power to make all decisions for them, giving others the power to define who they are, they have so lost touch with themselves that nobody else can ever really know who they are either. Is that what life is all about? I find it quite frightening that for many people, the answer is yes.

you know what? we don't have to play the Game at all, we can opt for freedom and autonomy instead. the only thing that keeps any of us playing is our own fear. I recognize that my fears (and I might say I ain't skeered, but you know I am the same as everyone else, it's just my fears are more exposed to scrutiny) impede my ability to make important decisions and I turn to others for the answers and give away my power and my autonomy. What I need to remember is that it is my power to use or to give it away. I cannot make informed decisions if I am not well enough informed, and it would serve me well to recognize this fact and to choose wisely whom I allow to make certain decisions for me. When an authority grants me neither the information nor the chance to decide, I am very wary of allowing them to decide for me, and rightly so because they are playing a Game I don't want to play anymore.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Money as Debt

posting this here so I can watch the rest of it whenever I get a good chance (like tomorrow morning)...

...still trying to figure this stuff out!! It makes no durn sense to me at all!

FDA plans to eliminate vitamin companies

link

...next thing you know, it will be illegal to have plantain and dandelions growing in my backyard, and they will force us to use herbicides on our lawns in order to comply.

who decided labor unions were the bad guys?

to answer my own question, it certainly wasn't the workers who would otherwise be making minimum wage, with no benefits, and turning out inferior products because of a lack of pride in workmanship!!

Get ready, because when the economy crumbles just like the rest of the corrupt system under which we are governed (and we might postpone the inevitable, but it is bound to happen sooner rather than later, unless, of course, the people decide they'd rather be fooled again and choose not to accept responsibility for their own actions) those white collar jobs and college degrees won't count for shit. You have to start asking yourself, what can I do for my community? What skills do I possess that will help the people closest to me and contribute to the new society?



link


BUT WAIT!!! The chart on the left-hand side is even more telling than the article...
and again, the reader comments appear to be manufactured to some extent, leading the discussion in a certain direction, away from the real issues at hand.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

the News, or why I read USAtoday

Way back in 2001, I was addicted to the morning news. I hadn't missed more than a handful of episodes of the Today show in several years. And then 9/11 happened. I watched in horror as Matt Lauer related events that were happening right there in my beloved New York City. (I do have a vague recollection of Matt saying something about an explosion a split second before the first tower fell.) Our TV stayed on for two or three days, I didn't want to miss anything important. I was becoming increasingly upset with the war-talk. As I turned off my television, I said to myself, "people can't possibly believe all this shit!"

I watched in terror as the country fooled itself into another war, one I just knew was gonna be a big one. I couldn't even read the newspaper anymore, I would get so upset and was known to yell at the paper as though the reporter might somehow hear me (I must admit that at that time, I was also hit quite hard with PPD and PTSD following the birth of my first child earlier that year). I had to remove the news from my life because of how upset it made me to see how easily public opinion can be created and maintained by lies. Now people are starting to wake up, to question things, and I see more lies and more fabricated public opinion being thrown at us, seemingly in attempt to prevent us from getting all the way to the truth, to prevent us from creating any real change in our world. I read USAtoday online every morning. I want to see what crap is being fed to the truth-starved masses, telling us what to believe and what to think so we don't have to bother doing it for ourselves. This is what we're up against. link

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

FBI goes on offensive against China's tech spies

link
don't forget to check out some of the reader comments, they are as important as the article, if not moreso, in leading public "opinion" a certain direction.
and while you're at USAtoday, take a look at the changes in the flavor of the political news.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

reply to anon comment

lest everyone miss it who might be interested, I'm going to start a new post with my reply to the comments left by "anonymous" to my post regarding the first part of the Zeitgeist movie.

First, it doesn't really matter (to me) whether there are consistencies between different religions. It doesn't matter (to me) if religious symbolism means this or that. But I do thank you for taking the time to point out some of the falsehoods presented in that movie. We should all question everything and find the truth for ourselves, especially when it is something important to us. I can see that religion is something very important to you, and I respect that. What does matter to me, as evidenced by the things I write about here in my blog, is how religion has been used by the authorities to keep people in line, to control people, to prevent autonomy. Religion does this (I'm not picking on any one religion here, but I have to use Christianity as an example simply because I am more familiar with it than any other religion) by creating an objective Absolute Truth, complete with laws and rules the people are to obey, or else. The thing that bothers me most, and always has, is that they force you to obey through fear, the ultimate threat is eternal damnation.

Evil does not lie in the hearts of men. Evil was invented by those who wish the power to control us, to give us something to blame when things go wrong (see my posts on Plato). It's all part of the same game: control, obedience, blame, all working together to prevent people from accepting responsibility for their own actions. People are not bad inside, they are not evil. People are only able to harm other people when the authority that tells them right from wrong lies externally rather than inside their own hearts and minds. Religion may have originally intended to set us free, but it has been a very effective tool to keep us enslaved instead. As far as Christianity goes, the Romans saw what a powerful tool it could be, and so totally twisted the message of Christ and turned what had the potential to liberate and empower the people into the strongest shackles with which to keep the people in line history has ever seen.

The true religion lies in your heart, not in the words of man, no matter how Holy those words are considered to be. "all prophets are false prophets, for they speak from their hearts, and not the Word of God" [sic] See, the only way we can know God is through our hearts. Our relationship with the Divine is totally subjective. When we try to talk about it using objective language, it just doesn't translate adequately, and our words become false (that does not mean that our beliefs are false, just how we talk about them is).

Saturday, July 21, 2007

another executive order

My husband couldn't believe me when I told him about this one...
link

in other words, if the Secretary of the Treasury decides that you have committed or pose a risk of committing an act of violence in attempt to undermine US efforts in Iraq, they can take all your money and all your property, without any notice, and without a trial. Not only that, but if you have contributed a donation to any group or person that might pose a risk of committing such an act, they can take your stuff, too. yup, it's not a very big step, much less a leap, to go from this to saying it's now illegal to protest the war. Especially since there is to be no prior notice, and no trial for the accused. lots of conspiracists are talking about this being the first step towards the government seizing our property and rounding us up into concentration camps. Personally, I think they just want us to be afraid, all of us. That way we will be much more likely to believe it when the "good" government finally steps in and saves us from the "evil" government.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Won't Get Fooled Again

by The Who, 1971

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone

And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all

And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
No, no!

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
Though I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do ya?

There's nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye

And the parting on the left
Are now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

Thursday, July 19, 2007

what does this mean?

link
another article about economics that somehow seems important, but I don't know why because I don't understand it at all. Can someone explain to me what this is really about?

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

three new old purses

my apologies for just having the one photo, and it having been taken in a great hurry so I could post it this morning...
Mamaw, DH's grandmother, gave me this and two other similar bags yesterday. She gave the girls lots of porcelain toy dishes, like three shoeboxes full! We will be having a big fancy dancy tea party someday real soon. Been looking for an excuse to throw a party...
anyway, the purses. DH's other grandmother (whom I never met) made them. They are beautifully constructed. I've learned so much about sewing just by examining the craftsmanship of these bags. There are three of them, the purple being my favorite. And the orange paisley lining, oh my! :)

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

clergy abuse

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge on Monday approved a $660 million settlement between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and more than 500 alleged victims of clergy abuse, the largest payout yet in a nationwide sex abuse scandal. link

accepting a settlement means there is no conviction, and I'm sure there are terms the victims must agree to before getting their own small share of the moneys (that is, after the lawyers get the big chunk of it first). what's the point? it's not like the Roman Catholic church doesn't have lots and lots of money, how is this going to make anything okay?
..."more than 500 victims"
..."nationwide sex abuse scandal"
and they agreed to settle? What the hell is wrong with these people????!!! (okay, besides having been sexually and spiritually abused)

"The plaintiffs' attorneys are expected to receive up to 40% of the settlement."
'nuff said. dirty rotten bastards, getting rich of other people's misery!

"The deal settles all 508 cases that remained against the archdiocese, which also paid $60 million in December to settle 45 cases that weren't covered by sexual abuse insurance."
Sexual abuse insurance??!! Does such a thing exist? Oh my.....


edit: Oh dear, I shouldn't have started reading the comments. How is it that people equate homosexuality with pedofilia, anyway??? There are some major flaws in that kind of logic... AAARRRGGHH!!
okay, breathe.
The important part here is not the settlement, well it sorta is... But the important thing to look at is how when we hand our power over to authorities (our right to make our own decisions, allowing them to make decisions for us), they can and often do abuse us. Not all authorities are abusive, but giving them the power to control us enables abuse against ourselves, our CHILDREN!! Apparently people still believe that the risk of abuse is preferable than having to accept responsibility for their own actions. When you hand over your autonomy to an authority, the responsibility then becomes theirs and you have someone to blame if things don't turn out right. okay, so the people choose to be controlled, they allow the Church to make decisions for them. The Church then pays hush money to those who have been greivously harmed, with money it took from those it harms! While those who abused their power [beyond the socially acceptable level of abuse] get off scott free. this is so fucked up, y'all

Sunday, July 15, 2007

birds of prey

Yesterday, while playing outside at dusk (something we rarely do this time of year because of mosquitos) I noticed we have some other kind of bird of prey in our neighborhood. Smaller, with a fatter body than the red-shouldered hawks, these birds were catching swifts in flight! They were really really fast, and stayed close to the treetops as they gathered more speed before streaking out up into the sky.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

the rot in our government

let's try a little experiment. Google the words "government" and "rot" and see what you get. I got over 2 million articles and websites. Pick a few just out of curiosity's sake and you find people who claim that they know the solution, that it is a fixable problem. You'll find lots of people who call themselves Democrats, in particular, asserting that their policies are the only answer, they will save us from the evil that our government has become. Do you really believe that? honestly?

allow me to indulge in another little metaphor. Suppose your body has a huge gaping wound, one that has been allowed to become infected. The infection has been neglected for so long that it is festering and growing. Puss oozes out of it, stinking and dripping on the floor, contaminating everything it touches. Unseen, it has started to spread internally to all parts of the body. What would you do? Slap a bandaid on it and call it cured? Well, that's what those liberals, the Democrats, the ACLU, even some Republicans like Ron Paul, are proposing we do. They want to cover up the infection, the rot, with a piece of paper we call the Constitution. Hiding the rot from view while the infection continues to fester and spread internally.

*sigh* I'm all out of steam... and getting rather discouraged by watching the people I know and love be so manipulated by the media which is manipulated by the same rot that controls the government. WAKE UP DAMMIT!!! ...before it's too late...

Friday, July 13, 2007

cloth diapers

my babies, when they were infants up until they learned to walk, each went through about a dozen diapers every day. Both children were much too sensitive to leave them sitting around in their own waste, even if the diaper could easily absorb more, it would cause a horrible rash. The Huggies I used on big sister contained chemicals that irritated her skin far worse than the urine or feces did. It was the only brand we could use, though, the others were even worse. Even so, I had to open the package and let the diapers outgas for about a week before I could use them. Is it any wonder that when I first met Heather who was using cloth diapers, I started thinking about making the switch? Sure, I had thought about it before, looking at the mountains of trash we were setting out to the curb each week. But it always seemed too much effort, too much time, too much work. What convinced me, finally, was when I added up how much we were spending on things that were only meant to be disposed! We had to buy the most expensive wipes on the market, because they were the only fragrance-free option. It was really adding up. What I spent in one month on disposables for J is not much less than what I've spent on all cloth diapers and wipes for both children combined, even considering the high dollar fancy pocket diapers I bought after joining a certain cloth diaper online message forum. And then I resold many of the diapers and covers, after my children had used them and outgrown them, for a PROFIT! As for the time and effort, it's about the same either way to carry a garbage bag outside and put it in the bin as it is to carry a laundry basket downstairs and load the washer. Someone has to put the diapers in the dryer or hang them on the clothesline and fold them when they are dry, but with a baby in the house, the washing machine runs pretty much constantly anyway, and I see doing laundry as a welcome escape from dishes and other much less pleasant chores. Though I must add that without my husband's help, none of us would ever have had any clean clothes to wear or clean dishes to eat with.

I couldn't make this up!

link

and you know why they aren't doing this to us? it's because they already have our DNA, fingerprints, and SS numbers, not to mention our healthcare and banking records, in their databases. Hitler tatooed numbers on people, nowadays they don't have to do that. And they call such abuses against privacy euphemisms like a "reliable ID system"

"The devices can both collect and display data, letting troops view someone's background and decide whether he should be detained" uh... isn't that backwards or at least upside down? shouldn't the crime come first, rather than the suspect? Or are we all guilty until we prove otherwise or unless we can pay high dollar lawyers (or a friend in the White House) to say otherwise?

Thursday, July 12, 2007

mind control, continued from yesterday

step three (step two would be to force parents to distrust their own instincts when it comes to parenting, and have them distance themselves from their baby who needs them and relies upon them for everything) - institutionalized education. suppress the urge to ask questions, silence all those "whys" that children naturally ask. Make them stand in line, raise their hands and only speak when spoken to, make them dress a certain way, act a certain way, and teach them how to fill in little circles on tests. Forget educating them, teach them to memorize the answers for the tests so they don't have to learn anything. Reward conformity and obedience, punish anyone who exercises their free will or expresses any hint of autonomy.

but see, it doesn't always work, does it? I was born in a hospital, taken from my mother and not allowed to see her for the first 30 hours of my life. Fortunately, my grandmothers both worked in that hospital, and I was held by one or the other of them as much as possible. My early childhood training consisted of strict adherence to Dr. Spock and his evil pink book they gave my mother at that same hospital when they sent her home without me (nowadays it's Ferber). It was my mother's belief that babies should be weaned from breast to bottle when they start getting teeth, mine didn't come in until after my first birthday, lucky me. I was given shots that always left me feeling very ill for a very long time, but it was for my own good, you know. I went to public school, but probably too many different public schools as we moved around a lot when I was a kid. I went to school with the poorest white kids in rural Virginia (because even in the 70's segregation was alive and well in that fine state), and with the intellectual's kids in Connecticut, and even at such a tender age recognized the differences in how the schools functioned, which logically led to the conclusion that the different schools had different agendas. We didn't watch much tv, sometimes we didn't even own a working television (which led to much derision and ridicule at the hands of the other kids in school, I must say).

The almighty television. Oh my! When Pinky asks Brain "what are we going to do tonight?" and Brain says, "The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!" why wasn't television the main theme of every single episode? It seems to me that people are so afraid to think for themselves, that they will believe anything the television tells them to believe, without question. The TV said Bush won the election, and most people quietly accepted that as fact. Those of us who disagreed were ridiculed and harrassed until we shut the fuck up about it. It was the TV that made mystics and conspiracists a pack of raving lunatics. It was TV that made David Koresh an evil madman, deserving of his fate (a fate that not even the most truly evil person should ever have to endure). It is TV that makes people living in the US without proper documentation "illegal." I can see no other reason for anyone to believe those things, but tv says it is so and the sheeple quietly follow the herd (whether there really is a herd to follow, or only actors playing one remains to be seen)....

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

MKULTRA and the CIA

"What an attack on the independence of a person’s mind represents is an attack on the very principle of self-ownership. It would not be hyperbole to say that if any government went about a plan of forcibly tampering with the volitional abilities of the human person, such a government would have engendered itself with an evil beyond that of any, or indeed all, previous man-made evils. No slave-master, however cruel, could reach the deepest caverns of the mind. No slave, however coercive the duress which he suffered, was ever robbed of the ability to morally judge the actions he was forced to carry out. Without a mind, the individual person ceases to exist." link


The experiments showed the methods to be effective. We are not allowed to make our own decisions, and most people seemingly welcome the chance to delegate responsibility to an authority. There is no longer any need to keep MKULTRA a secret from the people. We are under the spell. Well, enough are anyway.

For example (just one of many), women experience it during pregnancy and when giving birth, the most natural of all body functions. we are treated as though we have a disease and the doctors have the cure. we are tested and poked and prodded regularly, starting shortly after the fertilized egg implants into our womb. We are told what to eat, and given long lists of foods to avoid, other long lists of things we cannot do. nothing we say we know makes any difference if the machines do not agree. Extra pressure is applied to those women who insist upon listening to their bodies and their hearts rather than obeying the all-mighty doctor. Birth, which has the potential for being the most empowering experience known to humankind, becomes something so traumatic that we seek medications to make the (primarily emotional) pain go away.

Then, as if to make matters worse, baby is taken away from Mother and poked and prodded, given injections containing harmful chemicals. Some babies are even brutally mutilated (dare I call it sexual abuse?) for no reason other than fashion. Baby is told when to eat, what to eat, how much to eat. Mothers who breastfeed find this very difficult indeed, as baby doesn't know the rules. Baby learns that Mother cannot protect him from the authorities, right from the get-go. Baby learns to be afraid, because Mother is afraid.

edit to add link to more articles about MKULTRA

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

mazes

yeah, mazes. You know, those puzzles where you have to find a path from one place to another? Well, my oldest child is crazy for them, but the ones we were finding (like in her Ranger Rick magazine) were just too easy. So I've been drawing my own mazes for her. I was also guilty of making them too easy at first. It can be rather disappointing to spend 20 minutes drawing up a maze that my child can solve in two minutes flat! But I'm getting better at making them more difficult, but still not too hard where she would get discouraged and upset. anyway, that's what I've been up to lately. Was feeling a bit under the weather last weekend, and DH went out of town on a motorcycle camping trip, so that's what I did. After the first ten or so mazes, I started thinking I should probably try to print out some copies and make like a booklet or something.... (but that would involve getting a new scanner and a decent printer, or maybe taking the originals down to Kinko's or somewhere like that)

Monday, July 9, 2007

astounded

Illegal immigrants find refuge in holy places
link

the reader comments after the article are unbelievable!! What have these people done to be called "criminals" - have they hurt anyone? The law is what creates criminals. We certainly don't need more laws, more prisons, more law-givers, and law-enforcers. We need to treat everyone with the same respect we deserve ourselves. The Golden Rule. That's all we need, y'all.

edit:
wow! over 900 comments now, most of them quite nasty (it was around 300 when I first read it this morning). The way I see it, the problem with "illegal" immigrants (and just how can a PERSON be "illegal" I want to know) is that they work for a tiny fraction of a decent, living wage. The corporations that hire them don't want them living here legally, then they'd have to give them better pay and benefits. Those corporations have lots more pull in politics than we people, so they get to decide what laws are passed and which ones are not. It's not like I want to work in a carpet mill in Dalton, Georgia, which is where most of the local "illegals" are employed. Would it hurt me at all if they were paid decent wages? What would it hurt anyone, besides the corporations that don't want to pay their workers, to stop this silly prosecution and persecution of innocent people? And I still have to wonder if people really mirror the sentiments expressed in the comments on these mainstream news media websites, or if the comments are loaded by those who wish the power to control public opinion????

indoctrination

why is it that people are so quick to point out the blatant attempts to control public opinion and indoctrinate children with a particular political agenda when it's the other side doing it? link Can we honestly justify doing the same to our own children? Does it really make it okay as long as we are forcing them to be "good" people, and only teach them our own version of "truth?" (another link) Can we not trust our children to be morally capable of making their own decisions? I know my children weren't born with any "bad" in them. I don't think they are any different from all other people on Earth, either. If I respect my children's intelligence and their inherent ability to know what's right, if I neglect indoctrinating them into sharing my particular beliefs, does that make me a bad parent? Would it harm anyone in any way shape or form if I suggest that we all not only treat our children in such a manner, but everyone? A friend recently said to me, "I only want the chance to decide for myself." Isn't that what we all want?

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Guernica


read this "...Picasso's apocalyptic vision has served as a banner for a nation on its path toward freedom and democracy."

it's not quite the same story I was told in art appreciation class in college....or maybe it was in one or another museum in NewYork. I never missed a chance to see Picasso's art during my summertime visits with my dad. For some reason or another, I always thought the artist was not happy with how this mural was used as propaganda (much like the entire PBS write-up). ....or maybe it's just me :)

edit to add: it takes a huge flying leap not inherent in the artwork to go from an anti-war statement to a pro-democratic government message.

click here for higher resolution image of the less disturbing part of the painting

Saturday, July 7, 2007

produce!

I suppose it's about time for a garden update. I have a few oddly shaped cucumbers almost ready to pick. Apparently they didn't get completely pollinated, and are only filling out on the top half, so they have these long, spiky nipples at the ends. We have sunflowers, but they only got about four feet tall, and the blooms are only about the size of a saucer rather than a dinnerplate. Each bean plant has about two or three pods, rather than the 10-16 they should have, but they are looking pretty good. My daylilies are just now blooming, usually they bust out in April or May at the latest. My roses didn't put on much of a show this year, quit blooming earlier than usual, but they are rebloomers and usually bloom again from September to Christmastime. The avocado pit now has leaves and the pineapple is loving being outdoors. Hundreds of watermelon seeds started growing in my compost. I'm sure it's too late for them to set fruit before cold weather arrives, but I'm leaving some to grow undisturbed, just to see what happens. We also have some blackberries and figs, but it looks as though the wildlife might get them before we do. Okra is coming up, we still have plenty of hot weather left this year, they should be fine now that we are getting rain on a regular basis. And I found one tiny little kale plant, out of the bajillions of seeds I planted, one survived. The spinach bolted (set flowers) immediately after growing two or three leaves, and is inedible. The watermelons and pumpkins are still alive and blooming now, but do look rather puny.

Friday, July 6, 2007

interesting blog

link
I'll definitely have to check this one out in my spare time...
...maybe tomorrow...

so tell me, what do you think?

edit:
I hadn't thought of the word "globalization" as being a euphemism for "imperialism" but I think he's got a point there. His other articles are really thought-provoking as well.

and more US aggression towards China

oh dear
link
Are our lawmakers really wanting to pick a fight with China??? The news sure does seem to point in that direction....

it is much more interesting to read articles by searching the tags... like this. gives a totally different perspective, doesn't it?

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Monday, July 2, 2007

Zeitgeist movie ... my review, part I

link

I was rather disappointed with the first part of the movie. The problem, when dealing with spirituality, is that we are attempting to talk objectively about the ultimate in subjective experiences/beliefs.

Organized religions take the "I AM" out of it, and screw it up terribly by pointing to some man-made objective "absolute" truth instead, and have most definitely been used by the oppressors to control the people throughout history.

But that doesn't mean there isn't something in their teachings that touches that part of us, deep down inside, that recognizes Spirit, Truth, Nature, God, whatever you wanna call the indescribable. I don't think that pointing out the similarities between different religions proves anything one way or another.

Some of the changes I perceive happening right now are spiritual in nature. I've encountered lots of those "One Love" people (I think that's what some are calling it), and I feel what it is they are feeling, though I have a slightly different take on it, but that's just how I am. I recognize them on the street or in the grocery store or the post office, and it's truly an amazing thing to feel love pouring out at you from strangers, and to give it back in return. It's even more amazing to pour love out at someone you don't know, someone who looks like they are having a really bad day, and to watch their face light up and come alive!

We are not souls trapped inside bodies, waiting to be freed (which, by the way, is a Platonic notion, not a Christian one, but ask most Christians if they do believe in some sort of body/soul duality...). We are a combination of spirit, body, life, and mind ...water, earth, air, and fire. Ignore any one of those aspects, and the others suffer. Yes, the mind of the people has atrophied due to public education among other things. This is very important. But our spirit has also atrophied due to organized religion. Our bodies are not healthy due to polution and environmental toxins, food allergies gone neglected, not to mention overuse of medications, vaccinations, and other forms of "preventive" medicine. As for life, that is what animates us. I'm not sure most people even know what that is anymore, it is such a foreign concept to the way we live today. I suggest that the goal, however, is to be fully alive, to live our own lives rather than the lives others have chosen for us.

To my point of view, the many different ways organized religions have been used to enable abuse against the people are very very important. I think this film missed the mark, slightly. But, it would take several more hours to explain what it is I'm trying to say, just as regards xtianity alone, much less address any of the other world's religions. I suppose the people who made Zeitgeist ran into the same time constraints and chose the bits they felt to be the most important, or perhaps the most thought-provoking...

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Sunday Morning Coming Down

I can't explain my faith. There aren't any words that would do it justice. And it is something so personal, so subjective, even if I could find the words, I still couldn't describe it to where anyone would understand. I can say, "I believe in angels" and I have, here in my blog, I'm sure. But that doesn't even touch the tip of the iceberg. I use those words because they are handy, and they seem to convey how I felt when I had a certain experience, or at least to symbolize the spirit of that experience. See? I'm already having problems with the words!

Okay, so I'll talk about other things instead. I have this faith, this personal belief that there is more to reality than what we can measure, see, touch, smell, taste, or any other empirical evidence, a belief not based on logic or reason. Yet I believe in certain indescribable things just as much as (sometimes more than) I believe there's a desk in front of me right now. It's as real to me as the air I breathe. If I have any doubts or questions, they are not concerning its existence, but rather my perceptions of, and relationship with, whatever it is. My personal faith is not open to debate. I believe. Simple as that. Likewise, I feel that everyone else's faith should be afforded the same respect. It's too personal to be discussed. So what if my faith doesn't jive with yours? That doesn't make it any less real to me. And honestly, there is nothing anyone can say that would change my mind about it. Oddly enough, I'm constantly changing my mind about it the more I learn and think about it anyway.